Face Transplant News

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) is a world leader in promoting and performing this life-giving procedure. Learn more about the face transplant surgery program at BWH and the research that led to the breakthrough.

The surgery is described as a life-giving procedure because it has the potential to dramatically improve, i.e., restore, both a patient’s mental and physical health.

In February 2013, a Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) surgical team, led by Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, performed a full face transplant on Carmen Tarleton, a Vermont mother of two who was burned over 80 percent of her body with industrial strength lye in an attack by her estranged husband in 2007. It was the fifth face transplant procedure performed at Brigham and Women’s.

In April 2011, less than one month after the first full face transplant in the United States, the BWH team performed the second full face transplant in the nation for patient Mitch Hunter. It was the third face transplant procedure to be performed at BWH and the fourth face transplant in the country. The team worked for more than 14 hours to replace the full facial area.